Health Wonk Review Carnival Now Live

Check out this week's edition of the Health Wonk Review over at the Workers' Comp Insider blog.  Mark Pauly's post from this week is featured in the carnival along with a lot of other great reads.  Take a look. 

Nurses' Adverse Work Schedules Linked to Obesity

A recently published study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that nurses who work long hours, have a high work burden, are required to be on-call/ utilize overtime, and/or lack of rest are more prone to risk factors associated with obesity. The research team associated 'adverse work schedules' with less restful sleep, and less exercise, thus increasing the likilihood of obesity among nurses working these type of schedules.

To read more about the research, click here.

To read the research publication, click here (subscription required).

New Coverage on INQRI Study re: Nurse Depression

INQRI grantees, Susan Letvak, Christopher Ruhm, and their team are receiving a lot of attention for a new article they published recently in Clinical Nurse Specialist which focused on depression among nurses in hospitals.

Check out their recent clips:

• 1 in 5 Nurses is Depressed - Health Leaders Media
• Why So Gloomy?  Nurses Twice as Depressed as the General Public - Nurse Zone
• Study Looks at High Rate of Depression Among Nurses - Cleveland Plain Dealer

Learn more about their INQRI study, "The Effects of Nurse Presenteeism on Quality of Care and Patient Safety."

Depression in Hospital-Employed Nurses Is Double The National Average

An INQRI supported study, published in the May/June edition of Clinical Nurse Specialist and led by INQRI grantees Susan Letvak, PhD, RN and Christopher Ruhm, PhD, has found that hospital-employed nurses demonstrated a depressive symptom rate of 18%, double that of the national average (9%). The authors of this study also expressed their concern with depression among nurses as it may result in difficult with concentration and limiting nurses ability to perform mental and interpersonal tasks to the best of their ability. Thus, depression could be linked to not only lower total work output, but negative patient outcomes.

You can access the abstract (free) and the full-text (subscription required) of this study, here.

60th National Student Nurses Association Convention's Keynote Speech Focused on Closing the Nurse Safety Gap

Last week, the National Student Nurses Association (NSNA) convened for their 60th anniversary conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Mary Foley, PhD, RN, director at the Center for Nursing Research and Innovation at the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing and a past American Nurses Association president, served as the keynote speaker and addressed the issue of nurse safety to the many future and currnet nurses in attendance. While nurse safety has always been an issue in the health care sector, Dr. Foley told the attendees that there is little work actually being accomplished on the ground for nurse safety to improve. Dr. Foley also promoted her work with the safety group, Safe in Common, which just launched a new Needlestick Safety Advocacy national tour and education campaign.

Click here to read HealthLeadersMedia coverage of the conference, which also includes a short interview with Dr. Foley (on pages 2 & 3).